Tuesday, March 03, 2015

It's a simple and powerful idea, but it is also harder to use than it
seems like it should be. And what idea is that? The "80/20"
rule. Statistician John
Cook states
it as follows:

[The rule] says that efforts and results are often very
unevenly distributed. You'll get 80% of your results from the first
20% of your efforts. For example, maybe your top 20% of customers will
provide 80% of your profit. Or when you're debugging software, often
80% of the bugs will be in 20% of the code. Once you become aware of
it, you'll see 80/20 examples everywhere.

As Cook
elaborates further, the principle (also called
the Pareto
Principle) applies, even if the actual percentages aren't exactly
eighty and twenty. Cook goes on to list four reasons the rule might be
difficult to apply. For example:

We're unclear how inputs relate to outputs. It may
be
hard to predict what the most productive activities will be. [link
in original]

I see two common threads uniting his four
reasons: (1) ignorance regarding various aspects of achieving the
goal, and (2) lack of discipline. Cook explores what we can do about
the former problem in the link directly above. The latter problem
requires introspection and a committment to being clearer
about why one is working on a problem. Might the most
productive part of taking advantage of the Pareto Principle be best
summarized by, "Keep your eyes on the prize?" Being clear about what
one wants at the outset, being sensitive to signs that something is or
is not working, and remembering to periodically check what one is
doing and why are all important.

These are all good habits
regardless of whether the Pareto Principle applies to a given
endeavor.